FiannaAradia

Thank you all SO much for this post. Invaluable info. We just booked the November 2021 Miami-BA trip. Normally, I'd want more planning time for this kind of thing, but the prices right now are too good to pass up. I'm glad to have words of wisdom from the experienced. ❤️

Just got home from Barbados. We just got a cab at the airport. When you come out of the building, there are clearly uniformed taxi dispatchers who will quote you the fair in both US and Barbados dollars and give you a receipt with the fare written on it. There are the normal touts who try and solicit you, but finding the official and the licensed taxi queue was very easy. I wouldn't bother to book in advance. You won't save any money or time.

Thanks for the updates. We begin on the day you leave. Looking so very forward to this vacation. It's been a nutty few weeks here.

I use one of the quote generators on line. Generally, what you buy through the cruise line (or airline or tour company) is not actually insurance, it's a right-to-cancel and it often (but not always - read the fine print) only covers the things you buy through them.

I'm a fan of Insure My Trip, which works like most of the other insurance comparison sites. You put in your age, state or province, the dates of the trip, where you're travelling and the amount of coverage you'd like to purchase and then any other needs you have. For example, I only look at policies which cover cancel for any reason or cancel for work reasons, rather than a policy that just covers medical or logistical emergencies. It costs more, but in my situation it's the most likely trigger for using the policy. After that, it pops up all the policies that fit, and you can compare coverage types and company ratings.

I have done it both ways - just insured the deposit and then increased the coverage as I prepaid more things and I've just estimated the cost of the trip and purchased the whole amount up front. I find the second way is easier because then I don't have to remember to call and increase my coverage. I don't think there's a difference in cost much one way or the other.

No, pouring Nicky Fooey on top of Dom Perignon is not the end of the world, nor is catastrophe in the works when a waiter is about to top up a house white wine in a glass half full with another vintage.

I wouldn't call it a catastrophe, but it's a _very_ awkward situation, to which there really isn't a great solution. If you paid for Dom, depending on how "topped up" the glass needed to be, you have paid (let's keep the numbers simple) $100, and then had part of that purchase wrecked and wasted. If it was 2 half-full glasses, that's 1/5th of the bottle or $20. Because it's a purchased bottle, I wouldn't want to ask them to open another bottle and replace the glass they wasted because that means the rest of that new bottle is going to waste, too. In a case where the BTG option for sparkling is limited, there isn't an equivalent you can offer without opening a new bottle of what was spoiled.

It's something that happens. I got "treated" to a blend of Mersault and some buttery California thing because the waiter mistakenly grabbed another table's bottle of white wine out of the chilling bucket at a very nice restaurant. That place handled it well by bringing us a complimentary glass of our choice from their by the glass list after we'd finished our bottle.

For me it's never the mistake, but how well it's handled that determines how I feel about service. People err. Pushing more work on people makes them err more. Drinks service is something that should be left to a team that's responsible for it, rather than giving food servers who already have several tables yet another task.

For the Gentlemen a tie is not required, neither is a suit or tux required. Only requirements are a jacket. Of course shirt and pants as well. Recently finished a 45 night cruise and the formal nights on the initial daily listing were changed for several of the nites. Have a wonderful cruise no matter what you are wearing.

There will definitely be a tie. He has enough to open a haberdashery and I think a suit would look odd without a tie. Jacket and slacks with no tie is normal, but a suit just calls for a tie. We're oddly formal for Americans. He usually wears a jacket to dinner. We're in between the ban-the-tie generation and the dress-like-a-Victorian-bartender generation.

It does make you wonder how many people would show up without shirts and pants if it wasn't required. :confused:

Here we are in Atlanta awaiting our flight to South Africa and on to our Sojourn cruise.

 

So, packed yesterday afternoon. Left the suitcases open while I watched the Superbowl. On reflection, after the game, went back to the suitcases, removed one dress shirt, one golf shirt and a suit from my luggage. Feel much better about it now.

I pack all the things, take some stuff out then close my luggage and drag it down the stairs. If that is too difficult because of weight or balance, I take out more. We do land travel more than sea travel and I've learned the hard way that if you don't want to carry it down your own stairs, you DEFINITELY don't want to drag it down a train platform.

I second the pick a color scheme idea of packing. I pack a lot of black and grey and then bring color-pop accessories to change things up. Tights, scarves and necklaces are much lighter than sweaters and skirts.

Thanks for the advice, all! Our pre-cruise documentation shows that there is one formal night, but not which night it is. I went ahead and made reservations at TK for the 3rd night. We were considering the second night because it's the most low-key day of the itinerary. Anything on the menu that we absolutely shouldn't miss?

We'll probably go the suit and dress route, which makes me kinda sad. We're the (apparently) odd birds who love to dress up and that's one of the things that made us want to try SB. Sadly, getting to Bridgetown from central Illinois is more of a pain than I expected.

Either way, I'm still really, really excited about this trip. This is our first venture out of mass-market land.

Hello all, I have two questions:

1. Can anyone tell me what night the formal night generally is on a 7 day cruise with no sea days? I don't want to make reservations at the specialty restaurant for that night because it's fun to be in the MDR when everyone is all dressed up. I had read somewhere that it's often the second night, but I've only seen that in one place.

2. Do most men opt for the suit and tie or do they wear tuxedos? I'm still trying to book a flight on a decent airline, and that's looking less and less feasible. We're debating whether or not to pack the tuxedo and all the accompaniments since we're probably going to be stuck paying for baggage. The suit is more space-effective since that means the jacket can double as a dinner jacket on other evenings and I don't need to pack a formal gown.

Thanks!